He personally put up the barricades to keep visitors out in order to protect his mountain hometown from the coronavirus. But James Reid remembers when the problem was folks no longer stopping through Andrews. Andrews, NC Mayor James Reid and host Anita Rao discuss what it's like balancing personal freedom and public health in small-town Appalachia.
He witnessed the downtown suffer after a four-lane bypass was built and, a decade later, felt NAFTA deliver an even worse blow. Reid was a forklift operator at the blue jeans factory when the jobs evaporated. Like lots of his neighbors in Andrews, he turned to entrepreneurship.
Well, that and local politics. It should be noted that the mayor’s $600 a month salary falls plenty short of paying the bills. Reid’s day job is managing rentals, and he runs a tree and lawn care business in town.
Host Anita Rao talks with Mayor James Reid about catching headlines for his early decision to close the town to outside visitors as well as how he continues listening to and learning from his community.
Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio
